Various imaging techniques are currently in use to diagnose, stage, and monitor tumors. Each technique currently in use has certain drawbacks. For example, many primary or metastatic tumors cannot be differentiated from normal tissues. Positron emission tomography (PET), PET-computed tomography (PET-CT), and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) are used routinely to look for tumor activity as well as grading of tumors. PET and SPECT involve administration of radioactive substances, have short half-life times, are not widely available, and are limited in their usefulness as diagnostic techniques.
There is a need in the art for imaging compositions and methods that avoid one or more of the above-mentioned drawbacks.
Literature
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